Manufacture of gears



March 8? 1927. 1,619,997

J. W. WHITE MANUFACTURE OF GEARS Filed Dem-.4. 1920 A 2 sheets-sheenMarch 8 1927.

J. W. WHITE MANUFACTURE 0F GEARS Filed Dec. 4. 1920 2 sheets-sheet 2Patented Mar. s, 1927.

UNIT-,ED STATES JOHN W. WHITE, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR To'GENERAL MOTORS CORPORA- TION, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, `A CORPORATION orDELAWARE.

MANUFACTURE or onAns.

Application led December 4, 1920. Serial No. 428,292.

The invention relates to means for manufacturing gears, includingwheels, racks, segments, or other forms of toothed elements, byimpressing upon a blank, preferably heated to increase its plasticity,the deslred form of toothed contour by means of a toothedl prises aforming element, which may Vbel annular, rectilinear, or of otherdesired contour, and -a blank-supporting element, which may be mountedto rotate Or reciprocate, or to have such other motion as may benecessary to bring the blank into proper engagement with the formingelement. It may also include means whereby the formlng element and theblank may be caused to approach each other progressively during theprogress of the forming or rolling operation. f

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan View and Fig. 2 is an elevation of an embodlment of theinvention adapted to form gear teeth upon an annular blank;

Fig. 3 is a section Online 3-3 ofV Fig. 1;

VFigs. 4 and 5 are, respectively, a plan view and an elevation of anembodiment of the invention especially adapted to -form gear teeth upona bar, thereby producing a gear rack' Fig. 5L is a section on line 15.,--5a of Fia 5; I

Figs. 6 to 9, inclusive, are plan views showl ing arrangements ofsectional forming ele- *dit Kitt

ments adapted for use in producing herringbone gear teeth, and

Fig. 10 is a plan view of a gear ring formed by bending a rolledvgearrack and connecting the ends.

ln the structure shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3, 10 indicates a base of anycharacter suitable to support the machine parts. A hollow .rotaryspindle 11 is supported in bearings 12, 12', and has mounted thereon amaster `gear Wheel 13. .At one end the spindle is provided with anydesired chuck or clamping means adapted to receive and hold againstrotation relative to gear 13 a blank as indicated at A. As shown theblank is secured against the side of gear `13 by the 2t), arranged.-side by side.

disk 14 actuated by a connection through the hollow spindle to handwheel 15.

A carriage 16 adapted to be reciprocated on the base l0 by any suitablemeans, as by the piston 17 operating in fluid pressure cylinders 18asshown in Fig. 2, is provided with a master rack 19 and an inclined bedso positioned that it will engage with the gear Wheel 13 when thecarriage is recipro- The rack 19 is cated and will thereby cause thegear and l the blank A to be rotated. .Upon the bed 2O is mounted aforming element 21,. inclined on its lower side at the same angle as thebed 2O so that the upper surface, which is provided with theformingteeth 22, will lie parallel tO the base 10. The element 21 isv normallyprevented froin'sliding relatively to the-carriage by theinterengagement of teeth 23 on the element/'with teeth 24 on thecarriage. A onetoothed gear 25, adapted to be rotated by any suitablemeans, as by the hand crank 26 acting through bevel pinions 27, 28, isarranged to engage the teeth 23, so that a single rotation of the gear25 will lift the element 21 out of engagement with the carriage andmoveit upwardly on theinclined bed a distance equal to the pitch of theteeth 23, which is equal to that ofthe forming teeth 22,- thenpermitting the element to drop back into engagement with the bed.

This operation will cause the teeth of the forming element or rack 'tobe advanced. one y tooth with reference to the master rack 19,

and also to be raised `a vdistance depending upon the angle ofinclination of the bed 20. This advancing and raising of the formingrack may take place after each reciprocatibn of the carriage thusserving to cause the forming teeth to penetrate more deeply into theblank and also to bring each tooth into engagement with a differentindentation in the blank from that with which it had previously engaged.The operations of reciprocating the carriage and progressively raisingthe forming rack may be continued une til the rack has reached the fullheight necessary to complete the forming of the teeth in the blank.

- In the form illustrated in Figs. 4, 5 and 5 I have shown aninterchange in the formingin this case a bar upon which rack teeth areto be rolled or impressed. The forming element is shown as a pinion 30which may Y be integral With ,or rigidly connected to the master pinion31 andl mounted upon the l provided with a seat 35 adapted to receiveand hold :trom relative displacement the blank B. The means foroei'ating the carriage and for raising an advancing the block 34:' arethe saine as have been described in connection with the form oi' Figs. l

to 3. The operation, as will be readily seen, is substantially identicalin the two forms, except for the reversal of the relative positions offorming element and blank.

In Figs. 6 to 9, I have shown a sectional forming element particularlyadapted i'or use in rolling herring-bone gears. The rack in thisinstance, which takes the place ot' the rack 21 ofFigs. l to 2), isconstituted of two sections, 40, 41', With the angles of the Jforiningteeth inclined in opposite directions. In forming one of these sectionswill be arranged side by side as shown in Fig. G, while the arrangementto form the other gear Ot the pair will be as shown in Fig. 7

' When it is necessary to grind or reiinish the surfaces of the teeththese sections may be arranged as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. two sections40 or 41 being placed side by side in order to bring the teeth havingsimilar inclination int-o alignment.

When the forming 'teeth on either a orm ing pinion or a forming rackhave been ground or re-surfaced thereby decreasing the initial distanceto which the teeth project the carriage or the Wedge-shaped blockcarried thereby may be adjusted to a slightly higher position by the useof shims.

The racksrolled or impressed as Aabove described may be used asrectilinear gear elements or may be bent to segmental orother form itdesired. This method of manufacture may be employed for example in theproduction of annular gears, or-gear rings, thev rectilinear elementbeing merely bent f to annular form as shown at 49., Fig. 10, and

its ends connected in any suitable manner."

Where it is desirable that the ring shall be continuous the ends maybeconnected by Welding as indicated at 43, as by the electricalbutt-Welding process. ployed may be rolled to any vdesired crosssectionwhich may be required for the completed ring, as will be obvious.

"Itvvill be understood thatvarious changes may be made in the details ofconstruction and operation Without departing from the a pairv ot'herring-bone gears spirit of the invention and the scope thereof as setforth in the following claims, and therefore' I do not Wish tobeli'mited to the specific details above described.

l. AIn means for forming gears, the combination of a toothed formingelement and a blank-supporting means, one mounted to rotate and theother to reciprocate, gearing for connecting said element to said meansto cause their ,operation in synchronisin, and means for causing theforming element and the blank to approach each other progressively andfor shifting the reciprocating member on its support to bring eachforming tooth intoengagement with a different indentation in the blankon the iiext'reciprocation. v

2. In means for forming gears the combination ofa reciprocatingcarriage, a toothed v forming element and a blank-supporting element onecarried by said carriage and the other rotatable on a fixed axis, andmeans foi' moving the element supported on the carriage progressivelytoward said fixed axisand for changing the position ofthe samelongitudinally relative to the other eiey disengage said element fromsaid carriage and move it along said inclined bed.

4.- 'Ihe method of forming a pair of cooperating herring bone or likegears consisting in acting upon a blank with a forming element composedof a pair of toothed sections arranged side by side, the teeth of onesection being inclined oppositely from those .of the other sectioninterchanging the position of the tooth sections so that the teeth arein reversed relation, and forming the cooperating gear in a similarmanner but with the forming element sections arranged in reversedrelation.

5. In means for forming gears the combination of a reciprocatingcarriage, a toothed forming element and a blank-supporting element, onecarried by said carriage and the other rotatable on a fixed axis, andmeans for shifting one of said elements bodily in the direction ofmovement of said carriage and relatively thereto between successiveforming operations to bring each forming tooth into engagement with adiii'erent indentation in the blank in successive forming operations.

6. In means for forming gears the combination of a reciprocatingcarriage having a master rack, a master gear adapted to engage saidrack, a toothed formingelement 'sections arranged side by side andhaving 10 their teeth inclined oppostely, said sections adapted by saidinterchange of position to lform either one of a pair of meshingherringbone gears, and means for supporting a metal blank in position toengage said sec- 15 tions. l

kIn testimony whereof I aix my signature.

JOHN: W. WHITE.

